Dead Space: The Catachrista
by FlatlinedGamer
Summary: Halo Torrentz is a highly sarcastic Engineer aboard the USG Catachrista. Her life and those of her crew mates have been reduced to corruption control. All original characters. R&R Scif-fi Horror with a bit of romance, comedy and lots of sarcasm.
1. Chapter 1

**Dead Space: The Catachrista**

**Chapter One: Welcome to the USG Catachrista**

**AN: **So, I kinda put my Assassin's Creed story on hold for this. I've finally gotten the chance to the first Dead Space and I'm loving it. Unfortunately, I'm playing it on my beta's PS3 and I'm not in the least little bit a Sony fan. I love X-Box, but that's not the point. Around Chapter 9 (I think) I got this sudden urge to write a non-canon fic. So, I'm using all OCs for this story. Please keep in mind that science fiction is not my strong point, not at all. I'm using the game and Dead Space wiki to write this. If I get something wrong, let me know, don't flame me. Every writer needs help in order to improve their work.

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><p><em>'Welcome CEC employee, to the USG Catachrista. We hope you enjoy your stay...<em>

The Greeting was the same for every ship, only the name and order of the words were changed. Every Planet Cracker Class, or PCC, was pretty much the same. Some were older, some newer. Like the _Cata._ This was the second PCC I'd worked on and it was one of the newest. That didn't make it any less of a pain in the ass for Engineer to work on. Oh no, the new ones were the worst.

My name is Halo Torrentz. When I transferred to the _Cata _two years ago, I was just another Class 1 Engineer trying to be heard. Hell, I'm still just a Class 4, but it's better then being someone's piss ant. I transferred to the _Cata_ at the request of two of my cousins. They wanted me closer so they could keep an eye on me. At the grand old age of 25 you'd think they'd leave me to my trouble. Nope. They get me into more.

I honestly was getting sick of PCC's. Yeah, sure, I always had work to do and the pay is great, but I was getting damn bored. What, with me being stuck to one side of the ship at all times and all. It had to be the deserted side, too. The only people I ever saw were other Engineers and my cousins. What fun is there in that?

Did I mention that my RIG suit was pieced together? Damn dangerous shit if you ask me. They keep putting me on hold for a new one. I'm too damn short for the RIG suit they put me in. I stand at a whopping five two and my RIG suit is a whole 4 inches longer than is safe. Fucking peachy, right?

Enough of all that. About two weeks ago we picked up on a distress beacon heading straight for us. Soon after that we picked up an escape pod. When the techs opened it up there was no one inside, just some gross looking shit. It was almost like whoever was inside exploded. How do I know? They had me and three other Engineers on standby- just in case the tech crew couldn't crack it.

My mom's step-brother used to say 'Shit rolls down hill.' He couldn't have been more right in that moment. We all watched as the stuff inside the pod 'popped'. Almost like it was the swamp sludge from back home. Only, it seemed alive- moving around like it was looking for a place to go. Then, like out of some b movie, it shot something out and pulled Tommy -one of the tech guys- into the swamp sludge looking stuff.

I felt like someone had forgotten to clue me in. Was this some really bad joke? Was I supposed to laugh? Cry? Shoot? I backed up instead. Just in case this was a joke. Sounds bad of me right? What would you have done in my shoes? Shoot? But what if it really was just a bad joke? How bad would you feel for killing someone? I thought all this over pretty damn fast and I decided to do nothing.

Well, that was until what-used-to-be-Tommy came at me. Or should I say, came out swinging really long blade looking arms at anything that was in its way. Something told me that the joke was over and something really bad was going on. I wanted to stand and fight it, but the LE had other plans.

Jacobs- the Lead Engineer- grabbed my arm and pulled me out of there. Anyone that was on the flight deck that didn't follow was left with what the fuck ever that thing was. I slid down the wall next to me and twitched. Yep, I twitched. This whole situation seemed like something those bastard Unitologists would do.

"Would you look at that shit. Those bastards really are crazy." I lifted my head and looked up at Jacobs, waiting for him to continue. "Those damn idiots are running at it. Almost looks like the damn rock worshipers are trying to hug it."

My right eye twitched and I stood up to look out the window. There they were, letting the thing kill them. I'd say there were around 8 of them. I sighed. Poor dumb bastards.

* * *

><p>When the infection started two weeks ago, no one really knew what they were in for. At first we thought that just shutting the door would be fine, then they started coming through the vents. We shut down the vent system leading in and out of the flight deck and little over half of the mining deck. Some parts of the ship were left without air and had to be evacuated before everything was shut down.<p>

Fifty odd crew members were unaccounted for and little over 100 were confirmed dead and reanimated. Whatever this shit was, it didn't know how to leave well enough alone. Things got worst a week after the outbreak. The stuff from the pod had somehow started spreading to the 'safe' parts of the ship.

My good friend Anthony was feeling the stress and got the bright idea to take a flamethrower to what the crew had started call 'The Corruption'. An hour and a whole canister of fuel later, he had cleared away a five foot space. Granted, he had a good idea, but that shit reeked.

They set us -us being the Engineers- to work with flamethrowers. We were outfitted with standard Engineer gear; plasma cutter, force gun, line gun, stasis packs, and the like. Every now and then some smart ass- me included- would manage to salvage a power node out of the crumbling remains of the corruption.

On one occasion something rose out of the sludge on Jacobs. He found that the Plasma Cutter work well... once you figured out how to kill them. Jacobs ordered us to cut off the limbs. We also noticed that another Unitologist was missing after each incident. No one was all that bothered by it. The missing idiots that is.

After a while the bastards... I mean the higher ups got brave and decided to open short corridors for burning. I was one of the first to be thrown into one of these hell holes. What was I saying about no longer being a piss ant?

From time to time something came out at us, then we started naming them. We realized that the things were, uh, evolving? Well, it was more like the corruption was getting creative and spitting out even weirder shit. In two short weeks we wished the whole fucking ship would explode.

* * *

><p>It was one of those nice off days I got sometimes to hang with my cousins when word came in that I was needed in the restricted section of the crew deck. They figured that so long as I was already there I wouldn't mind being called in. Fucking bastards.<p>

"Halo! Over here." Anthony had been called in a bit earlier to work on a section of wall that the corruption had managed to claim.

"What in the fucking hell could be so important that I have do work on my off day?" Ok, I'll admit I was being pissy, but what would you do if you only got one off day every two weeks?

"Well aren't we just sweet today?" Anthony eyed me like I was about to murder him. "Jacobs wanted you to fry the corruption on the other side of that door. We can't open it up for Thomas to start working until you do."

I glared harder at him. "Why me? Why is it always fucking me?"

"Because you're the smallest person on the team and I've already tried to get through." He scratched the back of his head and smiled. "It doesn't look like anythings in there. Nothing tried to take my arm off, so it looks like a go."

I grumbled and started for the door. "Miss! Miss, please wait." I cocked my head to the side and turned around. Medical personnel. Figures. "I'm so sorry to interrupt your work, but I need you to do a favor for me." Oh hell.

"Listen lady, I really need to go through that door before the corruption get any ideas. I have some hacking and burning to do you know." I put my hands on my hips and glared at her. Sometimes I forget that people can't see my face through the class 4 RIG suit.

"I know and I'm so sorry for interrupting you, but I need data from this stuff and I'm not allowed in there. I need a sample of the corruption and video documentation for research. I was wondering if you could get it for me?" The woman offered up a cam and a glass vile.

"No. I'm not risking my ass for your research..." I peered at her name tag, "Dr. Vanzle." I turned to go, but she grabbed my arm.

"I tried to do it the nice way. Halo Torrentz, get my sample and get my footage. That's an order." I ground my teeth together. So she was _that _Vanzle. Just. Fucking. Peachy. But I wasn't budging

"Get me a new RIG suit and _then _I'll get your fucking research shit. My job is bad enough without some back room bitch trying to get me killed." Can you really blame me for that one? I hate taking orders as it is, but I really hate it when someone wants me to put my head on a chopping block for them.

"You will do-"

"Fuck you, bitch. I'm not putting my ass on the line for your fucking science project. I'm not your fucking piss ant. Go get some no life tech crew member to do it." I was bristling at this point. Anthony grabbed my arm and pulled me off to the side.

"Halo, I think you should do it. Scrape her sample of the side of the door, take the cam, and send her on her way. You don't want to fuck with her. You could lose your job over what you've already said." He was right of course. I walked over to her grabbed the vile and safety canister, walked to the door and scooped up- more like scraped- some of the corruption. I then put it into the canister and gave it back to her. Vanzle smirked and attached the cam to my helmet.

"You'll be hearing from someone about your suit within the week. Just bring the cam by the medical deck when you're done." With that she walked away. I blinked a few times and looked at Anthony.

"What the fuck just happened?"

"She's my cousin, Halo." He grinned when my eyes went wide.

"Anthony Sikes, I should throw your ass in the flight deck!"

* * *

><p>I really didn't like having my back to the open hall, but I had to get the door open. I kept hearing the corruption pop behind me and I didn't like it one bit. An orange glow started covering the walls around me. I turned quickly only to find a new creature behind me. It was sickly pale and only had one leg. It limped along using a glowing orange pod at the end of one arm to walk. I shot the pod with my cutter- since when was that a good idea?- and hit the wall behind me. Just as I stood up from the explosion to see if I had killed it another was coming out of the vent at the end of the hall. I shot the pod off it's arm as it neared me then went for the leg and other arm. It was dead.<p>

Nothing else came out of the vent and the pod didn't explode. I had a new toy for Dr. Vanzle to play with. I pulled out my ripper to deal with rest of the corruption around the door. When enough of it was gone the doors slid open. The smoke was clearing as I walked out with my trophy and I found myself in front of what looked like a firing squad. It was almost like they'd pulled together the whole security personnel to deal with me.

"Just fucking peachy." I muttered.

"Halo!" Anthony and Thomas ran to me. "What the fuck happened in there?"

"Exploder." I held up my prize and grinned. "I finally got to name one. It was an ugly fucker."

Anthony started laughing and Thomas shook his head. "Well," Thomas groused, "You could have given it a better name." I smacked him and walked past. "So Anthony, care to escort me to your cousin?"

* * *

><p>With my explosive trophy in hand, we managed to make it to the medical deck in record time. Of course, I had to lower the pod into Dr. Vanzle's line of vision just to get her attention. After that she forgot us again as she gushed over the pod. Then she realized she needed to ask me questions about it.<p>

"So I understand that it's the Engineering crew that gets to name them. What do you call this one?" Vanzle was only half paying attention to me.

"Exploder." I muttered, then yawned. I had been here an hour. Now i was bored out of my fucking mind. Vanzle murmured something, then her brows crossed.

"Wait, why exploder?"

I almost laughed at her. "That thing," I nodded at the pod, "Packs a nasty punch. I was 10 feet from the doors when I shot the pod on the first exploder. It exploded and slammed me into the doors. It hurt like a bitch. It seemed to fit."

Vanzle nodded. "If I showed you pictures taken from the security cams still working in the quarantined decks, could you tell me what they are? Or help me name them if you've never seen them?"

I thought about it for a moment. "Will it get me my RIG suit faster?"

"Yes."

"Let's do it then."

* * *

><p>"What's this one?" Vanzle asked, pointing to the first creature we'd seen on the flight deck.<p>

"Well, we'd considered calling it Tommy, after the tech guy and first victim on the flight deck, but then we decided to call them slashers. That's all they really do. Slash and bite." Not a laughing matter, but for some reason it seemed funny to me.

"Stop that Halo. What about this one?" She pointed to a creature on the wall with no obvious purpose.

"We call those 'Poor dumb bastards'. Harmless. Now this one on the other hand," I pointed to a much creepier thing on the wall, "We call guardians. They spit out these things," I pointed to small things on the ground in front of it, "Which we call pods. Their only purpose it to protect the guardians. Why? I have no idea."

She started to point to another one. "Leaper. Jacobs named that one. It leaps at you or tries to impale you with it's tail. This one is a divider and these little things on the ground here are swarmers. Dividers sound a bit like whales. If you hit them enough their head and some other body parts come off and attack. The main body is dead at that point. The swarmers try to overwhelm thir victim and rip them to shreds." I yawned again.

Vanzle smiled and closed out the files. "We'll pick this up some other time. I know you have to be tired. Yawning and all."

I laughed and made my way down to the crew deck. Damn was I tired. And I still didn't like that woman.

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><p>As I said, please have patience with me. I'm having fun with this and I don't want some asshole to ruin it. Review damnit!<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

**Dead Space: The Catachrista**

**Chapter Two: Just Another Day**

**AN: **Amazing. Another chapter when I should be finishing chapter 4 of my AC fic. -sigh- Oh well, here's chapter 2. I wanted to add that, yes, I know it's the infectors that create new necromorphs. My characters just don't know that yet. Many thanks go to Apocalypse Survivor for the review, fav, and giving me an idea I hadn't thought of.

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><p>As days go on the Cata, today was boring as fuck. After yesterday's episode with the exploder, I earned another day off. I finally was able to sit down with my cousins Rayth and Sabine. Oh thank you merciful something-or-other. But as always, my mind can never stay on what it should.<p>

"Halo." Sabine waved her hand in front of my face and I tried to bite at it. I hate it when people do that.

"Sorry, didn't mean to drift off. I was just thinking that something- I don't know what yet- but something is going to come up and I'm not going to get my full day." I looked around the mess hall, trying to spy an idiot coming to spoil my day.

Rayth laughed. "Halo, you wont get a day's rest if you worry all the time. You'll end up like those marker-heads, throwing yourself at those monsters."

"Necromorphs." I muttered. Anthony, Thomas, and I had come up with the name for the creatures as a whole.

"Well, whatever they are, they can just go somewhere and die." Sabine groused. "I mean look at you. The LE and the commanding officers are putting you through hell."

"Hey now, Jacobs just does what he's told. Just like I do. I can't help but worry. Those things keep trying to spread as fast as we try to beat them back. The corruption keeps spitting out new creatures." I sighed and sat back in my chair. Damn, I _was_ worrying over things to much.

"Listen Halo, we'll get through this. Everything will be fine." Sabine smiled and kicked my leg. The start of trouble.

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><p>It had hardly been a whole five hours since I'd woken up when Anthony stopped by to talk for a bit. I had almost expected him to tell me I was needed for something.<p>

"Two weeks, Halo. Two fucking weeks. We've even managed to clear out four halls. I don't know how much more of this I can take." He looked pretty stricken. "I feel like this is some horrible nightmare."

"Ant, I feel like that every day, but that's just me. So what about that new creature your cousin spotted?" I crossed my arms and sat back. This was becoming a habit.

"Leigha calls it an infector. She said it was-"

I cut him off. "Wait, who's 'Leigha'?"

"Leigha Vanzle... My cousin. Duh. Anyways, she said that it's the one creating new creatures. And get this, there's some big mother fucker stalking around the flight deck." Anthony looked pretty worried about it.

" We'll wipe those bastards out. It's just a matter of time. As for the big bastard, I don't know what to tell you. Jacobs and the higher ups will figure that out. So long as it stays on the flight deck, I don't give a fuck." I grinned at Anthony, who laughed and shook his head at me.

"Woman, you're terrible."

"Why do you think my cousins wanted me here?" I laughed.

* * *

><p>The rest of the day turned out pretty good. I wasn't called to work, or burn duty. The next day was hell. I had work for the first half of the day and burn duty for the second half. What fun. They had decided to get Engineering crew 2 to take the first half of the day and crews 4 and 5 took nights. No one knew what had happened to crew 1. We were down to just the four crews. My crew being 3.<p>

Since the discovery of the infector, the morgue was being guarded night and day by the security staff. It was no secret that security was afraid of the necromorphs. I thought they were a bunch of pussies. Some of them had been on the flight deck when all hell broke lose and wanted nothing to do with the creatures. I, on the other hand, had to deal with them everyday. It was kinda fun getting to kill things.

Work was hell and I was tired out by the time I had burn duty. I had the feeling that if something wanted to kill me, it would have no trouble. Why did they send us in like that? Did they _want _us to die. Hey, lets kill off crew 3! We have three other crews, what's one crew dead? Ugh, I can be so fucking morbid.

I stood in yet another hall burning back the corruption, muttering a song that was 500 odd years old. My com flicked on, scaring the shit out of me when nothing but static came through. _What the fuck? _It clicked off just as fast as it had come on. I shook my head. It was nothing. I had a pieced together RIG suit, that had to be it. I'd get someone else to look at it later.

I went back to burning and muttering the song that was stuck in my head. I loved 10 Years, but they were dead and gone. Had been for about 500 years. Someone, somewhere had no life and continued to convert the songs to the newest file types over the years.

I was lost in my own little world, which is never good when on burn duty. I heard a slight squish behind me and heavy breathing. As I spun around I pulled out my cutter. It looked like an engineer from crew 1, but I'd seen too much fucked up shit and I wasn't taking chances. They raised a hand in the air as I crept up on them- their other arm was wrapped around their middle. I walked around them completely. They rasped something and I cocked my head to the side. "What?"

"Aiden Cross. Crew 1 Lead." He started coughing. I wedged myself under his arm to help him out of there. "What happened to your crew?" I asked as I hit the control to open the door. "I'm coming out guys. Don't shoot me or I'll rip off your favorite appendage." I got back a couple of complaints over the com, but at least I knew they wouldn't shoot.

We exited the hall and I could I almost imagine their expressions. Cross was starting to get heavy and I was starting to get pissed at the rest of the crew. "Would you bastards fucking help me already? We need to get him up to medical and I can't do it myself. Imagine what I would do to you bastards if he passes out on me. I will fucking murder you idiots." There was a rasping laugh to my right. Cross thought it was amusing. I didn't. "Oh shut up."

Anthony finally got the hint and took up Cross's right side. He did pass out on us. I kinda figured he would.

* * *

><p>I fell asleep in a chair while Leigha muttered about how he shouldn't be alive. Why the hell was she even in this part of medical? Who fucking cares? Me, I suppose.<p>

I had learned my lesson about wearing my helmet while I slept a long while back, so why did I do it now? Ugh, fucking exhaustion. I soon woke up to being shook by Jacobs. The bastard couldn't let me sleep.

"What the hell are you doing Torrentz? You're supposed to be on burn duty." He gave me a look that said I was too young to be in the medical deck. Who the hell was he kidding?

I pulled my helmet off and rubbed my eyes, then stood up. I realized that Cross had been moved. Shit, I had questions. "Fucking hell. They moved him." I groused.

"Moved who?" Jacobs most likely thought I was losing my mind. He wasn't the only one.

"I was visited by the spirit of engineers thought dead. Aiden Cross. I still think the rest of crew 1 are dead." I pushed my black hair out of the way so I could see the old man's expression. He didn't look happy. "What, not happy he's alive?" I asked. He smacked the back of my head.

"It's not that. Any crew still alive is a blessing." He's overly spiritual. "But I want to know what happened to the rest of crew 1." Jacobs -seeing as he's the oldest Engineer on the ship- was always concerned about the other crews. He was our Senior Engineer after all. When I first joined the crew two years ago, Jacobs worked by himself. He organized everything for the crews. Then he got bored with office work. Thomas stepped down as my crew's LE and gave it to Jacobs. We all had a great amount of respect for him. Jacobs was like a father to most of us. Me included.

"Well, let's go find him then."

I managed to find Leigha an hour later. Damn sneaky bitch.

"So, where'd you move Cross to?" I stood there trying to look annoyed. I suppose I failed.

"Don't look at me like that, Halo. He was asking for *ahem* 'the feisty chick' that saved him. I can't imagine why. What, with you being a horrible person and all." Leigha looked at me like she couldn't believe that anyone would want to see me. I rolled my eyes at the thought.

"I don't understand how he managed to survive for the past two weeks. Halo here can't even survive six hours of burn duty." Oh that whore. "His crew was on the mining deck when it hit that area."

"Bitch, I will end you." I snarled. I really did hate her.

"Take us to him." Jacobs said. I don't think anyone would want to get in the way when he has his mind set to something. Even I can set aside my justified, petty hate when he gets like that.

* * *

><p>Come to find out, Cross had been given his own room. Lucky bastard. I almost cut my arm off a year ago and they didn't give me my own room to recover in. No, they put me next to a crazy woman that only ever talked about her 700 year old button collection. Who in the fuck collects <em>buttons <em>from 700 years ago? Guns I can understand. Swords I really can, because I collect those myself. But _buttons_? Ugh, some people. Says the chick with a 5,000 year old, very pricey sword in her bedroom back home.

Cross was asleep when we got there. Gee, I thought he'd be awake and thanking me profusely. Guess I was wrong.

"How long till he recovers?" Jacobs asked. Why didn't he just ask if we could wake him up? I'd shake the sleep out of him if no one else wanted to.

"He's fully recovered. There were no open wounds. He just needed food and sleep." Come to think of it, I had no idea why Leigha was in this part of the medical deck. She wasn't that kind of doctor.

"You have questions too, I take it." I asked and crossed my arms over my chest. Leigha laughed. The bitch.

"Yes, I do. I was wondering when you'd catch on. But, seeing as you're not that bright, I didn't think you'd catch on this fast." She smiled brightly at me. I still didn't dislike her. I hated her so much I wanted to kick her in her non-existent balls.

I shrugged to hide my annoyance, then let out another yawn. "No medical staff doc would get so excited to have pieces of a necro brought to them. Nor would they hate me so much." She knew I was right. They really wouldn't. I'd asked one. You decide which one I asked about.

"What the hell is going on in here. Let me sleep." Cross was a grouch when he woke up. The bastard. But then, so am I.

"Wake your lazy ass up, Cross. You got three people here with question. Two of which have pretty much the same ones. The other one doesn't matter and needs to die a slow death." I tapped my foot to show my lack of patience.

"Ah, my feisty savior from what I asume is crew 3, since Jacobs is here." He grinned at me. I wanted to smack his pretty green eye out of his head. The bastard of a flirt.

"I'll show you feisty when I rip your pretty face off and feed it the swarmers." I growled. Cross had put me in a bad mood by flirting and being attractive. He looked over at Jacobs like he was asking a question I heard all too often.

"Don't worry, she's like this all the time around the crew. Torrentz has the over whelming need to remind us all that she's just as good as we are."

I snorted. "I have to. I'm the only chick in Engineering."

Jacobs's furrowed his brows. "No you're not. Zinnia is on crew 5."

I snorted again. "That's not a chick. That's a bull dike." I got raucous laughter from everyone but Leigha.

"What's a bull dike?" She asked. Smart people are fucking stupid sometimes.

"Ask Anthony." I laughed. Sometimes I worried about her. Wait, no I didn't.

* * *

><p>We commenced questioning Cross after that. Apparently we were right. At least, I was right. The rest of crew 1 was dead. Cross had done everything he could to save them. The thing on the flight deck we had taken to calling a brute was now dead, all thanks to every Engineer's favorite tool. The ripper. Ok, ok. My favorite.<p>

Apparently a member of crew 1 gave his life to make sure the brute died. Heroic bunch aren't we? The Engineers that is. What with crew 3 always getting attacked first and all. Sure, crew 5 has it as bad as we do, but they're the early morning crew. Eh, ok. We all do our fair share of dangerous shit.

Cross had a hard time getting into the hall I was working on and he tried to contact me through coms, but his RIG was fucked up. I wanted to hit him, but at least he tried to warn me. Did I mention he scared the shit out of me? Ah, well, I tried.

It was time for me to go back to burn duty. Jacobs wasn't letting me off easy just because I happened to find the only surviving crew 1 member. Bastard. I did tell him that I was hanging back, though. I wasn't done with Cross yet. Vanzle looked like she wanted to kill me before she left.

"We all seem to be heroes these days." I muttered under my breath. "We're killing them as they come at us and keeping everyone else safe. At the risk of _our own lives _at that." Broody much? I can be.

"Isn't it better to say that we stood for something, rather than saying that we stood back and let this thing kill us?" How dare he argue with me? Even if he _is _right.

"That's not the point, Cross. I didn't come here to kill some alien creatures, I came here better myself as an Engineer. I lost my job on the _Lanister _because they didn't think I had what it takes to be great at this and I didn't come here to argue about any of this crap." I snapped the last bit. I can't handle myself in an argument. My temper runs too hot.

"Why did you stay, Torrentz?" Cross looked pretty tired, but I wasn't leaving yet.

I flopped down in a chair and tried to calm myself down. I was pretty bad at it, but I managed. "How the fuck did you get through a locked door?"

* * *

><p>Hope you enjoyed the cliff hanger episode...er, chapter. Bet you can't wait to find out how he got through.<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

**Dead Space: The Catachrista**

**Chapter Three: That Which Does Not Kill Me**

**AN: **Another chapter, another day. Thanks go to my lovly beta for not helping me on anything. Kidding, she helps out a lot by being something akin to a little sister and saving me from going fucking bat shit and not finishing chapter 2 as a result. Enjoy.

* * *

><p>Cross gave me a blank look. "The door wasn't locked." I blinked rapidly.<p>

"The fuck it wasn't." I snapped. "I checked it myself. The tech guy told me there was no way to open it. He said it was stuck and that he had to re-lock it." I was getting pretty livid. What the fuck did he mean 'it wasn't locked'? "Did _you_ unlock it?"

"No, Torrentz, I didn't say I unlocked it. I said it _wasn't locked_. All I did was hit the control and it opened." It almost looked like I had pissed him off. Who cares? Not me.

I started to pace. "Who the fuck unlocked the door? I _know_ for a fucking fact that it was locked. I saw it myself." I wanted to hurt someone. Tear something apart. I don't do confusion well.

"Calm down Torrentz. It won't you any good to get worked up. You'll just hurt yourself." I gave him my most evil death glare. "Ok, you'll hurt _someone_. Just calm down. We'll figure it out."

I snorted. "_I'll_ figure it out. You, good sir, are in no shape to move. I have to get back-" I was cut off by someone running down the hall screaming my name. It almost looked like it was Thomas, but I couldn't tell with all that blood in the way. Wait, blood?

"Hey, back this way dumbass." I hollered out the door.

"You're just so nice to your friends."

"Shut up, Cross."

* * *

><p>I stood in a corner puking my guts out an hour later. I could take any amount of gore, but that really was too much. Jacobs knew I wouldn't be back for the rest of the shift and had asked Zinnia to take my place for a bit. Now, there was nothing but gore left of her. The door had unlocked behind her and several bombers and a brute had come through it. Not only had someone unlocked the door, they opened it, too.<p>

I felt someone start rubbing my back as I heaved again. There was nothing much left to puke up, save for stomach acid. Gross. The image of Zinnia splattered across the floor, walls, and ceiling flashed through my mind. My guts found something to let go of. I think it was a kidney. No, I think that was yesterday's lunch.

"Holy shit. How much do you eat, woman?" Oh dear Gods. It was Cross. I wanted to come up with a snappy reply, but all I could do was dry heave at him. I guess that was a good enough threat for me, but Cross didn't so much as back up. He handed me a towel instead. "Deep breaths, Torrentz. Clear your mind." I wanted to puke on his leg.

"I have a damn strong stomach, but the was gross." I mutter as I wiped my mouth. "Did you happen to bring water while you were being so thoughtful?" He laughed and helped me away from the now gross corner and helped me sit on the floor.

"So what happened here?" Cross asked. I gagged. "Ok, nevermind. Don't think about it. I'll go ask Jacobs." I watched him walk away. _Damn he has a nice ass. FUCK! Stop thinking Halo. It's not good to think._

"Don't think I don't see what you're doing." I looked up to see a very pissed off Vanzle.

"You must be blind then, cuse I have no idea what you're talking about."I leaned back against the wall. I was tired of hugging my knees.

"Don't play stupid, Halo Torrentz." Vanzle's voice was rising. "I've been trying to catch Aiden's attention for two and a half years now. Then you just waltz in and try to snare him with your cocky attitude? I think not. He is mine you stupid bitch."

I looked up at the woman with a confused and rather annoyed expression. "Last I checked, slavery was illegal. Though I suppose you could pass as one of those creepy S&M ladies."

Vanzle looked like she was about to kill me. That is, until Cross came back.

"Aiden! I'm surprised to see you here. Shouldn't you be resting." Oh dear Gods. Did she just go bi-polar? I think she did. Talk about a fucking mood swing. That woman was worst than me.

"Vanzle." He nodded in her general direction then looked at me. "Jacobs said you should take the rest of today off. You need to get some food in you and rest." I gagged. "Ok, sounds like fruit is the only option."

I put my hands on my stomach. "Feels like fruit is a good idea." I let Cross haul me to the mess hall, but I did get the chance to stick my tongue out at Vanzel.

* * *

><p>"What the hell is her problem?" I asked as we made our way to the mess hall. I didn't really care, but claiming ownership of someone that apparently doesn't want you bothers me. I could be wrong though.<p>

Cross sighed. "She's been chasing me since I got here. Damn woman is a cougar."

"Wait, what? How the hell old is she?" I knew she was older than me, but so was Cross. I think.

"She's in her 40's. Mid I think. I just know she's older by at least ten years. I'm 27 by the way." He look at me out the corner of his eye and gave me a flirty smile. I scowled. Bastard.

"I knew she was creepy. I just didn't know she was _that_ creepy." I glared at him. "If you're flirting with me to piss her off, I'll hurt you. That's a promise. I have enough problems with her."

Cross laughed. "No, I'm not trying to piss her off. Can't I show my savior a little gratitude?"

"In the form of flirting?" My right eye twitched.

"Well, my savior happens to be a very pretty blue eyed girl." Cross replied.

I snorted. "Your savior is a 25 year old Engineer with an attitude that would scare Lucifer. What makes you think I want your gratitude?"

He smiled at me again. I was tired of playing his game. I just wanted to eat and pass the fuck out.

* * *

><p>I woke up with a start. Well, it's more like I woke up with a thump on the floor and my music player suddenly turning on. It was way past time for work. In fact, burn duty had already started. I stood up and rubbed the back of my head. The rest of the day was gonna be shit.<p>

I left my MP on as I went to put on my RIG suit. I cocked my head to the side as I opened the door to suit's storage. My old RIG suit wasn't there. In it's place was a rather bad ass looking suit. In place of the normal copper coloring of the level 4 RIG suit was a matte black and the stasis gauge, health meter, and the spaces in the face plate were cobalt blue. A thin line of silver circled the crown of the helmet. I snorted. That was a horrible play on my name, but a good color since I hate gold.

I suited up and turned off my MP. It was time to head over to the restricted area of the crew deck. I couldn't wait to freak everyone out.

* * *

><p>Anthony and Thomas were the only ones to recognize me. And only then by my height. Jacobs had no idea who I was and Danvers was confused as fuck. Cross had been put on our crew since he seemed to be in good enough health to walk. He had no idea who I was.<p>

Anthony shook his head when he saw me. "Halo, there are two reasons why I know it's you. One, you're the only short Engineer I've ever met. Two, black and blue are two of your favorite colors. What the hell did my cousin do to the RIG suit?"

I laughed at him. "Ant, don't worry. Your's is still better than mine. She just changed the colors so I didn't look like a copper pumpkin." It's not that I'm fat. I'm just a chubby short person. Being skinny isn't on my list of things to do.

"By the way," I said with a grin they couldn't see, "If Cross asks who I am, tell him I'm a reserve named Tanzy. We'll say I didn't come in today." Anthony and Thomas chuckled at my idea.

"Why, Halo? Getting annoyed at him because he likes to flirt with you?" Thomas asked.

"Kinda, since I can't decide if I want to flirt back. I'm trying to find out if he'll flirt with just anyone." I sighed. "I want to know if it's worth my time."

"Ah, I get it."Anthony said. "You want to see if he thinks you're special somehow."

"Pretty much."

Anthony cleared his throat. "Here he comes. You better do that English accent you're so good at."

"You mean like this?" I asked as I mimicked the accent.

"Yep." He muttered as Cross walked over.

"Hey, have you two seen Halo? Wasn't she supposed to work with the rest of us?" Cross asked with more than a hint of concern in his voice.

"Aiden, hey man." Anthony said quickly. "Yeah, I saw her earlier. She said she wasn't coming to work today. Something about being too grossed out from yesterday and needing a huge break today."

"But," added Thomas, "We have the beautiful Miss Tanzy with us for today. She's a reserve. Damn adorable woman if you ask me."

"Oh stop Thomas." I said in my fake English accent. "You're just too sweet."

"Hi there." Cross said. "I'm going to ask Jacobs if I can go check on Halo." With that he walked off. My jaw dropped.

"What the fuck?" I let the accent drop. "Did he really just... I mean really? Dude."

"Yes, Halo." Anthony ground out. "The guy really does care for you."

"Ant, are you jealous?" I cocked my head as I looked at him, but Anthony laughed.

"No. I'm just surprised is all." He sighed. "Then there's that whole thing with my cousin wanting him so bad."

"Oh come the fuck on Ant." I snapped. "She's almost twice his age. Can I not attempt to find a shred of happiness in this hell hole?"

"Halo, that's not what I meant. Of course you can. Just not with Cross. Leigha has been chasing him for two and a half years. Let her have him." Anthony did his damn reasoning voice. The one where he's normally trying to talk me down from killing someone.

"Fuck you Ant. I thought we were friends, now look at you. Trying to help your cougar cousin reel in a guy that doesn't want her." By this time I was screaming at the top of my lungs. No one, not even a friend, gets to trample me for family that hates me. Fuck that.

I stormed off to find Jacobs. I really did want the rest of the day off now.

* * *

><p>I never did find Jacobs and I never ran into Cross. I was pissed beyond imagine and I was off to hunt down that bitch Vanzle. All hell was about to break lose.<p>

Both Cross and Jacobs spotted me as I entered the med deck. My helmet was off and anyone could see I was pissed.

"Ah, fuck. Halo's about to kill someone and Anthony's not trailing her. Somethings up. Come on Cross. She's on a war path."

"Right behind you Jacobs."

I had just found my target and about to rip into her when they found me in the research lab. It's best to never stand in front of me when I'm that pissed off. Just hand me a lit cigg and step back while I calm down. It's one of the few things that will drive me to smoke.

"I will kill you, you cum guzzling gutter slut." I loved that insult, having come up with it myself. I only used it when I planned to do heavy damage.

"What the hell are you going on about Halo? Don't like your RIG suit?" To give her credit, I hadn't gotten far enough into cussing her to let her know why I was so pissed.

"You drug your cousin into your petty bullshit. I can't fucking believe that you'd stoop so fucking low as to fuck up a friendship. You fucking made him choose between family and friends. You fucking bitch." I was beyond fuming. I was itching to wring her skinny neck.

"Ah Halo. I mean more to Anthony than you do. Why, what would Sabine and Rayth say if you chose a friend over them?" She smiled.

"They'd being fucking happy because I have the balls to stand up for those I care about. My cousins wouldn't do this petty shit. The Torrentz- Coltz family has more fucking sense than that." I snarled. I was about to jump on her ugly ass again, but Jacobs and Cross grabbed my arms and drug me out of medical. Back to the crew deck we went.

Neither said a thing as they drug me, kicking and screaming, back to the crew deck. I still wanted to break someone's neck and Anthony was on my list. The other crew members gathered around as they let me go. I went straight for Anthony and caught him in a death grip.

"Grow a pair you fucking pussy. Don't fucking speak to me anymore unless I'm about to fucking die." I pushed him back as much as I could and walked away, attempting to go back to the med deck without anyone noticing. They sure as hell did.

"Halo Torrentz, you better not being going to the med deck." Jacobs had caught me, but I was still too pissed to care. I was about to snatch my arm away from him when Cross got my other side and they drug me towards the end of the crew deck I stayed on.

* * *

><p>I paced my room, music turned all they way up so I couldn't hear myself think or them talk. Which they did. Outside my quarters.<p>

"Shouldn't she be calm by now?" Cross asked.

"You have a lot to learn Cross. That woman won't snap out of it till some one makes her laugh, scares the shit out of her, or surprises the fuck out of her. Problem is nothing scares her, she's hard to make laugh when she's pissed, and not much surprises her." Jacobs muttered. "I just don't get what pissed her off so bad."

"I don't either, but I have an idea." Cross said as he opened my door. I was still pacing and didn't see him. He tried to get my attention, but I wasn't paying attention. He waved his hand in front of my face and I tried to bite it off. He stood in front of me and I shoved past him. Cross gave up and sat in one of my chairs, attempting to think of some way to calm me down.

I'm pretty sure he couldn't think, since he stood up and turned my MP off. I continued to pace, thinking of ways to murder the two idiots I hated most at that moment. Anthony and his damn cousin. I just needed to find a way to get away with it.

Cross got in my way again and I stopped pacing. I hadn't even realized he stood up, but I wasn't worring over it. Well, I wasn't until he darted forward and kissed me.

* * *

><p>Damn, I did it again. I went an ended a chapter with a cliff hanger. So, what do you think? Is she gonna slap the shit out of him or kiss him back? Leave me a review with what you think.<p> 


	4. Note

Sorry it's been so long since the last update. All my stories are on hiatus until further notice. Due to family problems and having to get used to having a baby to take care of I haven't had the time to write. I have been working on a new story since it's for X-Men Origins: Wolverine and I have the events for the story mapped out and won't be posting it until it's finished. As well as the sequel which will take place just before, during, and after the events of the Avengers. Both stories will be titled Welcome to the Pride! and Under and Over It. (if you hadn't guessed, they're titled after Five Finger Death Punch's songs 'The Pride' and 'Under and Over').

I don't know when I'll be able to start updating all of them again. It just won't be right now. Don't give up on me though. I'll be back to finish them before you know it! Don't forget to keep leaving me reviews and feel free to PM me if you have any questions. I can still get on here with my phone to check and reply!

FlatlinedGamer


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